Pressure regulating and releasing apparatus for wringers



July 3, 1923. 1,460,423

\ A. W. KRAHN PRESSURE REGULATING AND RELEASING APPARATUS FOR WRINGERS Filed March 27 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet l I Ill I a q/gij uzoo I 4 7 July 3, 1923. 1,460,423

A. W. KRAHN PRESSURE REGULATING AND RELEASING APPARATUS FOR WRINGERS I Filed March 27 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 3, 1923.

warren sraras ALVIN W. KRAHN, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. I

PRESSURE REGULATING AND RELEASING APPARATUS FOR WRINGERS.

Application filed March 27. 1920. Serial No. 369,183.

T 0 all whom it may con cern I Be it known that I ALVIN V. K AHN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, and State of- VVisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pressure Regulating and Releasing Apparatus for lVringers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in pressure regulating and releasing apparatus for wringers.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby one of the wringer rollers may not only be caused to bear upon the other, or upon material passing between the rollers, under a predetermined resilient pressure, subject to adjustment to meet varying conditions, but also to provide means for instantly relieving one of the rollers from pressure, and allowing it to lift freely out of contact with the opposing roller.

It is my object also to provide simple, safe, and reliable means for not only re lieving the roller pressure instantly, but

also to provide means whereby the pressure may be instantly re-established. in the desired or predetermined degree, after the occasion for pressure relief or release has passed. For example, my improvement enables the operator of a wringer, in which one roller is held to the other by means of springs, to instantlydisconnect such roller from the springs, and allow it to move freely away from the other roller to allow a thick portion of a garment to pass between the rollers, or toallow an article, such as a large or ornamental button, to pass between the rollers without being caught or crushed. But it is equally necessary, in order-to expedite the operation of wringing out clothes, to provide means for quickly restoring the pressure, and it is therefore a further object of my invention to provide means whereby,

when the springs are disengaged from the released roller, they will be held in position for re-engagement, under substantially, or very nearly, the same tension. In fact, the same mechanism which is employed to'effect a quick release of the roller may be employed to re-engage these springs, and draw them into their normal or full tension position and condition.

Further, it is my object to provide means whereby one of the rollers, preferably the upper roller, may be not only released from the pressure developing apparatus or springs,

but whereby, when released, it may be swung out of the way in order to permit a readjustment of the fabric across the lower roller before restoring the released roller to its normal position under normal pressure or spring tension.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation of a wringer embodying my invention, all portions of the frame being omitted, except those which are necessary to a clear understanding of the manner in which my invention is applied and used.

F igure 2 is a side elevation of the same parts illustrated in Figure 1, with dotted lines indicating the parts in released position.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view of the spring coupling members, one of which is shown in vertical section, drawn generally Igndline 3-3 of Figure 1, and slightly modi:

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on line 4-4 of \Figure 3.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters thruout the several views.

In the construction illustrated, the frame members 1, at the respective sides of the machine, are. provided with bearings at 2 for the lower roller 3. These frame members 1 are provided with rearwardly projecting upwardly curving arms 4, which constitute brackets to receive the pivot pins 5 for connectin arms 6 which carry the upper roller Frame member 1 is also provided, on each side of the machine, with a forwardly projecting arm 8, having a guide member 9, forked or slotted at 10 to receive the head slide 11. Each of these sliding heads is provided with a depending rod 12 which extends downwardly thru an aperture in the base of the guide member 9, and is provided at its lower end with a seating 13 to support a coiled compression spring 14, interposed between this seating 13 and the base of the guide member 9.

The head piece 11 comprises a rectangular member having an aperture 18 therein,

adapted to receive a hook 19 having its shank 20 pivotally connected at 21 with the front end of the arm 6. The shanks 20 of the hooks 19, at the respective sides of the machine, are connected at their upper ends by a rod or bar 22, the ends of which are reduced and threaded, whereby they may pass thru apertures in the shanks 20.0f the respective hooks and be clamped thereto by nuts 23. The portion of the rod or bar 22 which is not reduced serves as a spacer for the shanks 20, whereby when the clamping nuts 23 are turned up to clamping position, the two hooks may be operated in uni-- son as a single unitary or rigid structure.

The slide-ways 10, formed by slotting or forking the members 9, not only guide the head slides 11, but also limit their downward movement, whereby the springs 14: may be kept under compression continuously. The hooks 10, however, are so formed that when the shanks 20 are swung upwardly from the dotted line position of simple release, illustrated in Figure 2, the points of the books will enter the slots 18 in the head slides 11, after which the work ing faces 25 of the hooks will move with a wedging action along the upper wall of the slot 18 to lift the head slides 11, and increase, to some extent, the tension of the springs 14, by lifting the rod 12 and seating 13, thus subjecting the hooks to a resilient downward pull. which, of course, is extended thru the hooks and their shafts to the arms 6 and t the roller 7. The wedging action of the hooks above referred to is, of course, due to the fact that the working faces 25 of the hooks do not lie in arcs concentric with the pivot pins 21, but extend along curved lines or arcs eccentric thereto, and which progressively increase in distance from the axes of the pivot pins toward the points of the hooks. If desired, however, the working faces 25 of the hooks may be provided with slight depressions at 26, into which the top portion of the head slide may be received when the hooks are in normal position of engagement with the springs. If the depressions 26 are employed, the margin. nearest the point of the hook should be beveled or inclined, whereby when pressure is applied to the rod or bar 22. or t the shanks 20 of the hooks, to swing the hooks to the position of release, the resistance to such movement will not be excessive. Ordinarily, the friction of the hooks upon the top portion of the head slides 11 will be sufficient to hold them in retaining position, thereby making it unnecessary to provide the depressions 26. However, for power driven machines, under conditions which allow or develop considerable vibration, such depressions may be found desirable.

The operation of a wringer embodying my invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken with the illustration. Power is applied to the lower roller 3 thru the roller shaft 28. The upper roller is driven from the shaft 28 thru the gear wheels 29 and 30, (Figure 1), in the ordinary manner. When the wringer is in normal use, the hooks 19 will be engaged with the head slides 11, as illustrated by full lines in Figures 1 and 2, and the pressure of the roller 7 upon the roller 3 will be determined by the reaction of the springs 14 upon the seatings 13. These seatings are preferably screw-threaded upon the lower ends of the rods 12, whereby the normal compression of the springs may-be adjusted in correspondence with the requirements of the work.

Inasmuch as the hooks 19, when in normal position, hold their respective head slides 11 above the bottoms of the slots or guideways 10, the roller 7 will be held to the roller 3 under resilient pressure determined by the springs 14, and these springs will.

allow the roller 7 to yield or lift when fab- Iics are passed between the rollers, said roller 7 responding to inequalities in thickness, without any relief of pressure under ordinary conditions.

But if an object attached to the garment is of such size that it cannot readily pass between the rollers, under such conditions without injury to the rollers, the object, or the fabric, the operator may release the roller 7 by simply pushing inwardly or rearw-ardly upon the rod or bar 22 to swing the hook shanks 20 toward or to the dotted line position illustrated in Figure 2. as associated with the full line position of the arm 6 in said figure.

Thereupon the roller 7 will lift freely. since the arms 6 will be free to swing upon their pivotal connections 5 with the bracket 6. The slides 11 will. of course. be drawn downwardly by the springs 14, but only to a slight extent, since their movement is limited by the depth of the guide-ways or slots 10. Therefore, as soon as the necessity for a release of the roller pressure has passed, the operator may grasp the rod or bar 22, and pull the same forwardly and upwardly to its full line position in Figure 2, thereby re-engaging the hooks with the head slides 11. and drawing them upwardly to normal working position.

When the hooks are released from the head slides 11. as above described. the arms 6 may also be swung upwardly if desired to remove the roller 7 entirely fromits superposed relation to the roller 3. These arms 6 may. if desired. be swung to a substantially vertical position. as also indicated by dotted lines in Figure 2. The center of gravity in such cases is preferably carried a little beyond a vertical line thru the pivot pins 5, whereupon the arms 6 will tend to remain in the raised position. being prevented from swinging over backwardly by stops 32. The fabrics may then be freely readjusted upon the roller 3. preparatory to restoring roller 7 to normal working position, and again applying the spring pressure.

It will be observed that inasmuch as the projections 9, with the coupling heads or slides 11, and also the arms 6, with the hooks 19 and their shanks, are all located at "their respective ends of the rollers 3 and 7, the space in front of or at the rear of the rollers is left entirely clear for manipulation and movement of,the fabrics thru the wringer, over the drainboard 33. The cross bar 22 is far enough above the wringer rollers to avoid any interference with normaloperation, but should conditions require a release of the upper roller, the bar 22 is within convenient reach of the operator, who can therefore instantly release the hooks and allow the upper roller to swing free. The fact that the arms 6 can be swung to or beyond avertical position, also facilitates cleaning the machine.

While as above stated, it is only necessary for the hooks to lift the coupling slides a short distance from the bottoms of the slots or forks of the guide, it will be understood that the movement must be suflicient to more than compensate for the compression of the rollers when they are brought together, wrin er rollers being composed of, or surface with, rubber. The lifting movement should also be sufiicient to allow for wear of the rollers, whereby under all working conditions the spring stress may be effective.

1. The combination with a wringer roller, of means for applying resilient pressure thereto, hook-shaped cams detachably connecting the roller to the pressure applying means, manually operable means for simultaneously actuating the hJok-shaped cams to and from positions of operative engagement, and means for maintaining said pressure applying means under some degree of tension irrespective of the engagement of said cams therewith, whereby said pressure 5 applying means is kept within reach of said cams and said cams are instantly operable to re-connect the roller with the pressure applyin means.

2. n a wringer, the combination with a roller, bodily movable out of contact with its associated roller, of a set of springs for applying resilient pressure upon said movableroller, means for separately adjusting. said springs to regulate their tension, independent means connected with the movable roller for simultaneously engaging and increasing the tension of the said springs while subjecting the roller to their reactionary pressure, and an actuating member extending from one side of the wringer to the other and adapted under manual pressure in one direction to instantly release the roller from said springs and to cause their re-engagement with the roller when moved in the opposite direction.

3. In a wringer the combination with a frame, a lower roller journaled in fixed bearings therein, a co-operating u per roller journaled in movable bearings apted to be wholly removed from above the first mentioned roller, a set of springs in releasable connection with the movable roller, means for separately maintaining each of said springs under a desired degree of variable tension independently of their connection with the roller, and swinging devices connected to the movable bearings and .having surfaces eccentric to their are of movement and connectible with said springs and adapted when moved in one direction to progressively increase the tension of said springs and subject the movable roller to such tension to press the same upon its associated roller in said fixed bearings.

4. The combination with a fixed support and a roller journaled therein, of a roller journaled in bearings bodily movable relative to said fixed support, pressure devices associated with said support and adapted to exert resilient pressure of adjustable degree upon eyelets forming part of said devices, and a set of hooks carried by said movable bearings and provided with cam surfaces, whereby when said hooks are engaged with said eyelets the full amount of pressure journaled in said arms and adapted normally to be associated in pressure contact with said first mentioned roller, pressure devices carried by said frame and adapted to be connected with said arms, means for adjusting the degree of pressure exerted by said devices, hooks mounted upon said arms and provided with cam surfaces engageable with a portion of said pressure devices to transmit pressure to the arms, and a handle connectin said hooks, whereby said hooks and sai arms may be manipulated.

6. The combination with a fixed support, of a wringer roller journaled in said support, a set of roller supporting arms pivoted to the support, a co-operating roller journaled in said arms, and movable there,- with into and out of operative relation to the first mentioned roller, bracket projections on the support, each provided with a guide, a slide head mounted in the guide, and provided with a depending rod, a spring compressed between the lower end portion of the rod'and the bracket, and an oscillatory hook pivoted to each of said arms, and provided with a cam face, and adapted to engage the associated sliding head to lift the latter in opposition to the sprin pressure. 4

7. i a wringer, the combination with the @a amaze wringer frame, of a roller journaled there said hooks being provided with a cam face in, a set of supporting arms pivoted to the adapted to engage the coupling members frame, a co-operating roller journaled in with a wedging action in opposition to the said arms, and movable therewith into and resilient stress. 15 5 out of operative relation to the first men In testimony whereof I aflix my signature tioned' rolllelr, a swipging hook pivotally conin the presence of two witnesses, nected wit each 0 said arms and rovided with an upwardly projecting shanli an op- ALVIN KRAHN' crating member connecting said shanks, and Witnesses: 1 a set of springs provided with coupling mem- LEvERE'rr 0. WHEELER,

hers, each in the path of one of said hooks, A. WEBER. 

